Three men arrested after drug buy leads to chase on I-55

A traffic camera view shortly before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13, 2018 shows a large number of emergency vehicles near the intersection of I-55 and Third. Drivers were being diverted around the area.(Photo: Tennessee Department of Transportation)

A 40-year-old man is facing multiple charges after police say he ran over a man he had just brought crack from as he attempted to flee officers who witnessed the drug buy.

Steven Wayne Mann Jr. of Horn Lake, Miss., was arrested Tuesday after a short chase that ended on Interstate 55 and Third Street.

The incident began at a store in the 1900 block of South Lauderdale in South Memphis when Memphis police officers responded to a drug/narcotics violation call.

Officers were watching the parking lot when they saw a man later identified as William Sales place a dollar on the front seat of the defendant's SUV, according to an arrest affidavit.

William Sales(Photo: SCSO)

Police said they have seen money used in the past to package and sell drugs, according to the affidavit.

When police questioned Sales about the money he placed in the SUV, he said it was "nothing," but when officers told the driver, Mann, to put his hands on the wheel, they saw a white rocklike substance inside the bill, according the affidavit.

Police said another man identified as Arthur Jones was in the backseat of Mann's SUV. Officers told him to get out, and he complied.

Arthur Jones(Photo: SCSO)

When police asked Mann to do the same thing, they said he slid his SUV in reverse and fled, running over Sales, the man who allegedly sold him the drugs, according to the affidavit.

Police said the chase ended when Mann crashed on Third near I-55. At least one other person was hurt in that crash, police said Tuesday.

Officers found 7 grams of crack cocaine in the car that both men denied belonged to them.

Sales was taken to the Regional Medical Center in non-critical condition after he was run over, police said. He and Jones - the man in the back seat - were both charged with possession of cocaine with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver.

Mann was charged with counts including possession of cocaine with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident involving death or injury.

Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.